I'm thinking...Rolando McClain, MLB, Alabama

Won't this team need to change its defensive scheme/philosophy in a major way before taking a MLB with a high pick? I don't really track the # of plays that guys are on the field, but the Titans still pull out the MLB for the nickel package pretty regularly, right?

Would you agree that Bulluck is our best LB? If yes, why would you not re-sign him and then spend your first rnd pick on a project you HOPE can be as good?

Doesn't that make the defense worse WITH spending our first rnd pick?

Wouldn't it make more sense to re-sign Bulluck and draft a top CB, DT, or DE to UPGRADE the current defense?

If they choose not to re-sign Bulluck, then you have the debate as to whether or not McGrath can play as well as someone they draft as a rookie this year. Will they keep Tulloch or are we letting go prhaps our best 2 LB's? Also keep in mind we play a tremendous amount of Nickel and that Tulloch is our 3rd best cover LB behind Bulluck and Thornton. Drafting a run stuffing guy will probably not help the defense in the short run if that LB can't cover because at best he'll play 50% of the snaps. If both Bulluck and Tulloch go, our defense will get worse next year unless we sign some free agents and draft very well. No more wasted picks on 3rd and 4th string players (TE) when we don't have adequate 2nd stringers at vital positions (CB, OL, S).

Most likely, we will have a choice of WR, RB, OG/OC, DE, DT, LB, CB and perhaps S for our first rnd pick. If we're smart about who we keep and which free agents we sign, we can focus on 1 of perhaps 2 or 3 positions we'd like to use our first rnd pick on and hope to match need with best player available.

No WAY would I attempt to draft Taylor Mays to play OLB. He's a boom or bust player at S already. He has the athleticism, but he sometimes takes bad angles and is most interested in trying to knock people out than tackling than or intercepting the ball. He's a better athlete than football player at this point. He could be a Sean Taylor type or a bust. His athletic advantage will be smaller or neglible when he gets to the NFL so he's gonna have to learn to play within a system in a hurry or be a special teams demon until he does.

Right now, he doesn't take on blockers at all and is a deep CF most of the time. He also has no experience with the reads and keys a LB has so moving him there or to CB would be a huge gamble with a first rnd pick. What if he can only play S...is he gonna ride the bench for a few years til Hope leaves?

Berry would be the only S to take with a high pick as he's an upgrade hands down. I seriously doubt he makes it out of the top 10 (perhaps not even past top 5) so we can probably forget about taking a S except for that Mays is from USC!

Gut

The way we play our LB's I think Mays could do it. He needs to keep his nose in the book and in the film room to do so tho, which I hear hes actually a studyholic. like I said HUGE RISK/HUGE REWARD.

You ask if I think KBull is our best LB? Too be honest I think Bulluck has lost more than 1 step, I've seen him miss more than a couple tackles hes leading tackler? idk about that. Tully is in not so much and is up there with him at tackles. So no I don't think hes our Best LB, infact hes down there with thornton. Giving one more year McGrath will be an update over both. He'll likely take over in Thorntons spot when ready.

Who would you take in the 1st and 3rd round? Do you agree that our defense just isn't as mean as it should be?

I have a few ppl come across my mind one being Brandon Graham, DE, Michigan reminds me ALOT of dwight freeney ,and is good at the run. but how much do we REALLY need a Dlineman? I think trevard Lindley deff would be a steal at round 3 he has good height, but needs to spend alot of time in the weight room gaining about 15lbs of muscle.

is a middle linebacker worth a first round pick in this division? we have to play the colts and texans twice a year, and with the amount of three wide receiver sets they play he won't be seeing the field a whole lot on second and third down.

i think the team would be happy to start tulloch, mcrath and keglar if bulluck isn't retained, but i think bulluck gets tagged, especially if there is no salary cap in 2010.

My thinking was it makes sense to take him with his versatility, even if KB is retained. If he is, to me, it makes Thornton's retention less likely. Right now, I'm thinking they would not be especially happy to have to play Keglar, else he would have seen p/t over McRath. Also, picture if next year is uncapped, Tulloch probably won't get extended, being an RFA instead. Thus even letting McClain sit for a year to replace Thornton if Bulluck is extended is not prohibitive or a waste of the pick.

My thinking as far a d-line goes is the top guys will be gone. I like the DE from GaTech an awful lot, but his production I think will have him shooting up boards come draft time. I like a few FAs -- for instance, GB can't keep all three of their soon-to-be FA DLs, Shawn Merriman will be FA, but this pick is somewhat based on our currently descending draft pick.

In the poll, I voted Joe Haden for the same reasons mentioned in this thread...replace Harper. But barring getting an upgrade at DT, the next best way is to get an MLB to help stuff the run. As Tulloch becomes better in coverage, he could slide outside. And McClain has the size of a small DE, with the footspeed (4.6) to blitz as well. So, I see some use for him in the Titans current scheme.

The problem with the Titans LB's is that there best run defender Tulloch is there worst pass defender. Bulluck is by far the best overall LB because he's a good run defender and a very good pass defender. Thornton is the 2nd best pass defender but 3rd at run D. Thornton plays like a 220lb LB when he's actually got good size.

So if you let Bulluck go and say draft McClain and move Tulloch over, you've improved our run D but just as much dropped our pass coverage with the only exception being if McGrath can play better than Tulloch or McClain is pass coverage (in which case drafting McClain makes no sense). If you draft a guy like McClain, he probably plays in goal line/short yardage and sits for a year while Tulloch is tendered for one year then becomes the starting MLB. Are we sure McGrath can take over Bullucks spot without a significant drop off? I doubt it (though I do like McGrath). So we'd be investing our 1st rnd pick in a guy who won't help us for a year and have a big drop off in the starting LB unit with McGrath taking over for our best overall LB and hurting our pass defense because we lost our best coverage LB. In a division with Manning and Schaub twice a year...that's not a great idea.

The question is, if McClain is such a dominant player, why not keep Bulloch and Tulloch, play the 3 best guys and let Thornton walk in a couple of years?

The other option is to upgrade the most imporant things we need upgrading...CB and DL. The question is, WHO will be worth our pick at either position vs the BPA at any position. I'm not sure there is a top 10 CB but there are numerous DT/DE's that could be in this draft that might be well worth it. There will be some very fine LB's too.

I'll have a better sense once I can watch all of the Championship games (only watched 2 yesterday) and then all the Bowl games. I like to see how guys perform on the bigger stages against good competition. Watching a Colt McCoy anihilate a virtual HS team tells you nothing of how good an NFL QB he'd be (just for example).

If you really wanna build up this team, you'd see if there are any dominant CB's worthy of a big investment in free agency. Same for DE/DT/LB or OC/OG. Invest in a younger player worthy of the contract then use the draft to upgrade and or fill holes. No way would you take Brandon James in rounds 1 or 2. There should be some excellent middle - late rnd kr/pr players.

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